In her first performance in India, pop star Rihanna set the stage on fire at the day one of the lavish pre-wedding event of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant and his fiancee Radhika Merchant.

The international music sensation, who belted out hit songs such as “Diamonds”, “Where Have You Been”, “Rude Boy” and “Pour it Up”, had Indian film celebrities like Shah Rukh Khan-Gauri Khan, Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone, Shreya Ghoshal and Shiamak Davar grooving to her tunes.

Dressed in a shimmering body-hugging fluorescent green and pink outfit, Rihanna put up her best moves and also interacted with the audience at the grand event, which is being held over three days at a residential township situated close to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)’s petroleum refinery near Jamnagar city.

The 38-year-old singer-songwriter thanked the Ambanis for making her a part of the family affair.

“Thanks to the Ambani family I’m here tonight in honour of Anant and Radhika. Thank you for having me here. God bless your union. I wish you the best. Congratulations,” she said.

As the prelude of her song “We Found Love” played, Rihanna asked the audience members if they believed in love.

“Make some noise for love right now. Send some extra love to the bride. It’s my honour to be here and I want you to put your hands together like this,” the multiple Grammy winner said before singing the popular track.

The Ambani family presented Rihanna with a bouquet and posed for the shutterbugs together after her performance.

Before flying out on early Saturday morning, the singer took selfies with women cops and obliged the paparazzi with pictures. Rihanna was also photographed sharing a hug with one of the women police officers.

According to multiple media reports, the Barbadian singer was paid Rs 74 crore for performing at the celebration.

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg with philanthropist-wife Priscilla Chan, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, former US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, corporate leaders Gautam Adani, Nandan Nilekani, and Adar Poonawala, cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev are also part of the pre-wedding festivities.

Other well-known film personalities who have been invited for the event are Amitabh Bachchan, Rajinikanth, Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Ranbir Kapoor-Alia Bhatt, Anil Kapoor, and Madhuri Dixit.

In 2018, music icon Beyonce performed at Mukesh Ambani’s daughter Isha’s wedding.

First Published: Mar 02 2024 | 1:18 PM IST